Chelsea put the previous weekend’s shock defeat by Brighton behind them and fired three cracking goals past arch rivals Arsenal at a bitterly cold Kingsmeadow in midweek to re-energise their campaign to become the first Women’s Super League side to retain the title.
“Sometimes you need a defeat to wake you up,” said manager Emma Hayes.
It was a magnificent bounceback, with players fighting for every ball in a concerted show of grit and determination in attack, defence and transition, to temper Sunday’s disappointment.
Pernille Harder scored twice while Fran Kirby netted the third, ignoring a stabbing cramp in her calf in stoppage time to gallop through on Gunners keeper Lydia Williams for one of her trademark slide finishes.
It was, in the end, a comfortable scoreline, although the teams were evenly matched for much of Wednesday night’s match, played in zero degrees, with steam rising from the footballers like clouds.
Emma Hayes beefed up her team from the slightly below-strength side she’d fielded against the Seagulls, bringing back Millie Bright, Harder, Maren Mjelde, Kirby and Ji So-Yun to a line-up which could, frankly, have beaten any women’s team in Europe.
Joe Montemurro’s Arsenal barely knew what had hit them in the fast and furious opening minutes, but the Gunners got a grip and steadied the ship, and chances were evenly matched in an absorbing, but goalless, first half.
When the breakthrough came, early in the second half, it was simply magnificent. With nobody closing her down, Harder fired a low right-foot shot into the left corner past Williams from 25 yards.
Sam Kerr, the most industrious player on the pitch and seemingly fitted with fresh Duracells, came close to doubling the lead after being teed up by Kirby on 57 minutes, but saw her shot ricochet off the bar.
Less than 60 seconds later, however, it was 2-0. Kirby fed Harder, who fired high and hard into the roof of the net. Kirby’s last-gasp goal completed the win.
“We’ve been beaten by three very good quality transition moments tonight,” said Montemurro. “They’re a very good team, they have powerful players. If we look too far into this game it’ll probably drive us crazy. There wasn’t a lot wrong, apart from them scoring three goals and us none!”
Emma Hayes was delighted by her team’s response to Sunday’s loss, which leaves the Blues 12 points ahead of her former side in the WSL, and top of the tree as an international break approaches.
Chelsea don’t play another domestic game until March 7, when they are away to West Ham.
“Derby wins are great, they really are,” she said. “Only the best, and the highest standards, will keep this dream machine flying. That’s the demand that I place, and I won’t compromise that.”
She reaffirmed her goals as winning the Women’s Champions League and becoming the first club to achieve back-to-back WSL titles.
“I know how important it is for my players to have Champions League football – that’s our first objective,” she said. “But no team has won back-to-back titles in the WSL, and we still expect Man City and Man Utd to be in the race… even if it’s in our hands.”
She added that teams sometimes need a defeat to wake them up. “It reminds you that you can’t be complacent for a single moment,” she said.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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